An astronomer observed electromagnetic waves emitted by oxygen atoms in a distant galaxy moving toward Earth...
Quasars are faint, distant sources of radio waves. (Quasar is short for "quasi-stellar source." They are so named because, like a star, they appear to the astronomer to be pointlike.) From the shift in the frequency of their emitted light toward the red, called the "redshift," we know that quasars are moving very fast. Astronomers observe that the more distant an object is from the earth, the faster it moves. In this way they determine that quasars are billions of...
Physics Lab Assignment This particular discovery is also an example of how those who deserve an award sadly are not always the ones who receive it. Read the following passage focusing your attention on the scientific procedures and scientific abilities you have been developing throughout the course. The discovery of pulsars –rotating neutron stars that generate regular pulses of radiation at their spin rate- was fortuitous. A group of astrophysicists from Cambridge University lead by Anthony Hewish was looking for...
The discovery of pulsars –rotating neutron stars that generate regular pulses of radiation at their spin rate- was fortuitous. A group of astrophysicists from Cambridge University lead by Anthony Hewish was looking for quasars (these are extremely bright, compact and remote objects that emit up to a thousand times as much light as our entire galaxy). For that purpose the research group designed a radio-telescope that was built on the flat fields surrounding Cambridge in central England. This telescope did...